All Will Be Revealed: Amazon.ca: Robert Anthony Siegel: Books

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Book Description

Release Date: April 15 2008

At the close of the nineteenth century, wheelchair-bound Augustus Auerbach’s only interest is his extraordinarily lucrative business: the manufacture and marketing of pornographic photographs. His outlook is forever altered, however, when one of his models pressures him to attend a séance. There, Augustus meets the medium Verena Swann, a beautiful widow who gives voice to the long-dead spirit of his beloved mother.

Through a series of private sittings, Verena and Augustus form first a friendship, then a romance–a relationship challenged by greed, obsession, jealousy, and the ghosts of relationships past.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } At the close of the nineteenth century, wheelchair-bound Augustus Auerbach’s only interest is his extraordinarily lucrative business: the manufacture and marketing of pornographic photographs. His outlook is forever altered, however, when one of his models pressures him to attend a séance. There, Augustus meets the medium Verena Swann, a beautiful widow who gives voice to the long-dead spirit of his beloved mother.

Through a series of private sittings, Verena and Augustus form first a friendship, then a romance–a relationship challenged by greed, obsession, jealousy, and the ghosts of relationships past.

Product Details

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Anchor Canada (April 15 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385665695
ISBN-13: 978-0385665698
Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 14.9 x 1.9 cm
Shipping Weight: 358 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,257,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Set in late 19th-century New York City, Siegel's second novel (after All the Money in the World) provides a fascinating tour of a pornographer's studio and a reluctant spiritual medium's parlor. Crippled from a childhood illness, the reclusive Augustus Auerbach has built a fortune in the pornography business; largely confined to his opulent mansion and rarely encountering people who are not employees or models, Auerbach is as incurious about others' lives as he is clueless about his own. His controlled existence begins to unravel when one of his models brings him to a séance conducted by the widowed (and crooked) medium, Verena Swann, who apparently connects him with the spirit of his self-absorbed and long-dead mother. As Verena attempts to escape her fraudulent vocation and the manipulative proposals of her business partner and brother-in-law, Leopold, an improbable romance blossoms between her and Auerbach. Siegel lays bare Verena's and Augustus's vulnerabilities as skillfully as they exploit those of others, but the novel's conclusion, which turns on Leopold's implausible machinations, fails to live up to its early promise. Readers willing to forgive the ending will find a richly detailed and seedily seductive narrative. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In early-nineteenth-century New York, Augustus Auerbach, crippled since childhood, is obsessed with his highly lucrative work as a pornographer. Convinced that he is the pioneer of a new art form, he obsesses day and night over the details of his photographic sessions; he almost never goes outside and maintains only the most superficial relationships with his servants and employees. Then one of his most prized models talks him into attending a seance with spiritualist Verena Swann, whose gift has been exploited and augmented with fake special effects by her brother-in-law. When Verena appears to put Augustus in touch with his long-dead and much-loved mother, Augustus finds that he is no longer satisfied with the isolated life he has been living. Siegel is skillful at incorporating into his narrative many fascinating details about photography and spiritualism. In addition, he draws readers into the emotional lives of two stunted people who exploit others' vulnerabilities while failing to understand their own. This well-crafted novel offers both an unusual plotline and richly atmospheric settings. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Amazon.com: 4.2 out of 5 stars 9 reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than his first novel. April 21 2007

By Lou Glasser - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover

A photographer who refuses to see people as anything more than the raw material for pictures. A spirit medium who has come to doubt the reality of her conversations with the dead. A deceased polar explorer who cannot quite bring himself to regret the journey that killed him. A disappointed lover who trains a performing bear to read minds. These are the characters that people the novel All Will Be Revealed.

Set in New York City at the close of the 19th century, this wonderful novel explores the hidden connections between three Gilded Age obsessions: pornography, Spiritualism and Arctic exploration. In doing so, it threads its way among a series of dualities: spirit and flesh, imagination and reality, the human need for connection and the fear of losing oneself in the other. It is funny, sad, brilliant, and very beautiful, and I loved it more than anything I've read in years. If you buy just one book, it should be this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars All Will Be Revealed May 14 2007

By David Murray - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover

Excellent read. Kept me up reading until my eyes blurred. Loved the ending. Thoroughly interesting characters.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars excellent April 25 2007

By John Altman - Published on Amazon.com

Format:Hardcover

On the surface, Robert Anthony Siegel's second book has very little in common with his first. The first was a combination of a character study, a coming-of-age novel, and a legal thriller, set in the modern day. The second is a historical novel, set in New York City at the end of the nineteenth century, with larger-than-life characters and exotic backdrops of pornography and spiritualism. Look beneath the surface, though, and the books begin to reveal similarities. Both are comments on the American dream; both are character-driven pieces that turn the screw in terms of plot until they also function as thrillers; both reveal an author who shows little concern for fitting into pre-determined commercial niches, who instead bravely follows his muse.

I liked this book even better than the first one. These deeply flawed characters -- a self-deluding pornographer and a guilt-ridden sham psychic -- are portrayed with compassion but never with condescension. Even the villain of the piece is shown affection and sympathy. The entire undertaking has an air of mystery which is sadly lacking in much of today's writing -- the mystery of seances, of photography, of magic. Even more importantly, Siegel explores the mysteries of love and loneliness and life. Highly recommended.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 9 reviews 4.2 out of 5 stars

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